Chapter 7: The One Sitting Next to You

Chapter 7: The One Sitting Next to You

Wang Haifei had been watching Su Chunfeng out of the corner of her eye all along, feeling a little nervous inside.

When she saw Su Chunfeng finish writing that line of small characters swiftly and smoothly, she couldn’t help letting out a soft gasp, “Ah!” Before Su Chunfeng could push the note over, she quickly reached out, snatched it, and stuffed it into her pants pocket, her cheeks flushed and her heart flustered.

“What did you write? Let me see!” Noticing the situation, Zhang Lifei’s big eyes curved like a little fox’s as she smiled and reached out to grab it.

“Nothing, don’t look!” Wang Haifei dodged anxiously.

Zhang Lifei grew even more curious, looking as if she had guessed something. She giggled and tried to reach into Wang Haifei’s right pants pocket to pull it out. Wang Haifei, of course, refused, her right hand stuffed in her pocket holding the note tightly, her left hand and arm doing their best to block those two annoying little hands.

During the struggle, Wang Haifei suddenly felt her right hand, which was in her pocket, being held by another hand. She turned her head in a panic and saw that Su Chunfeng’s hand had actually reached in.

She stared at Su Chunfeng in shock, her big eyes blinking with surprise and a hint of anger.

“I’ll hold it for you,” Su Chunfeng said with a smile.

Wang Haifei was stunned.

At that moment, Zhang Lifei seized the opportunity to lean over and slip her small hand into that tiny, tight pocket against Wang Haifei’s thigh… Three hands crowded and bumped together.

“Ah!” Only then did Zhang Lifei see that Su Chunfeng’s hand was also inside.

Wang Haifei sat up straight, lowered her head, her face red. Her right hand still tightly gripped the note inside her pants pocket.

Zhang Lifei leaned sideways, squeezing in front of Wang Haifei, her right arm wrapped around Wang Haifei, her left hand inside that pocket holding onto Su Chunfeng’s hand.

As for Su Chunfeng, he looked calm and composed toward the teacher’s desk, appearing to listen attentively, but in reality, his left hand was tangled with two soft, smooth, delicate little hands inside Wang Haifei’s pocket. He clearly felt the astonishing, youthful, tight elasticity of the thigh through the thin fabric.

After just a brief moment of stillness, Wang Haifei and Zhang Lifei almost simultaneously pulled their hands out quickly. Both sat up properly, their pretty faces flushed.

The note ended up in Su Chunfeng’s hand.

Even though mentally he was a man in his thirties, and his expression seemed calm, his heart rippled because of the intimate contact moments ago.

The little secret of this note was temporarily kept.

Until after school, Wang Haifei didn’t say another word to Su Chunfeng. She clearly avoided Su Chunfeng’s seemingly calm but fiery passionate gaze and hurriedly left the classroom. On the other hand, Zhang Lifei was extremely frustrated. After asking Wang Haifei multiple times with no result, she tried both soft and hard tactics to get that small note from Su Chunfeng or to find out its contents, but she failed. It made her grit her teeth in anger.

“Stingy!” Zhang Lifei pouted, rolled her eyes at Su Chunfeng, picked up her schoolbag, and stomped out angrily, leaving behind a faint scent and a slender, youthful figure.

Su Chunfeng smiled and shook his head, not paying it much mind.

He had intended to review his lessons in the classroom for a while longer but forgot that every day after school, students on duty cleaned the classroom. Only when dust flew everywhere in the classroom and students from the second group came to lift his bench did he realize. He had no choice but to take his English textbook and leave, planning to go to the playground to memorize some English words and grammar for a while.

Just after leaving the classroom, his classmate and childhood friend Li Zhichao caught up to him holding a pair of table tennis paddles, smiling and saying, “Chunfeng, let’s go play table tennis…”

“Oh, you go ahead, I’m not playing,” Su Chunfeng smiled and politely declined.

There were only three students from Su Chunfeng’s village in the same grade. Besides Li Zhichao, the other two were girls, assigned to Class Thirteen. However, Li Zhichao did not get into Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School by exam. His family was well-off; his father ran a feed factory. Back then, to get Li Zhichao into a better school, his father specifically gave 700 yuan to Guo Qinming, the vice principal of Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School.

Li Zhichao walked alongside Su Chunfeng and asked, “What did you go back home for this morning?”

“Nothing much, just wanted to go back and take a look…” Su Chunfeng said casually.

“Because of the fight with Yao Xinbo?” Li Zhichao asked seriously in a low voice.

Su Chunfeng was taken aback, then laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been wondering too. How did Yao Xinbo get scared into such a cowardly mess back then?” Li Zhichao glanced at the students coming and going nearby. “I wanted to ask you earlier, but you were studying so seriously like a good student this afternoon, I didn’t want to bother you…”

“I don’t understand either, heh,” Su Chunfeng shook his head.

Li Zhichao said seriously, “Let me tell you, that guy Yao Xinbo is sneaky. He’s been saying privately that he wants to get you. So when we go home this weekend, let’s take a detour. Don’t go through their village.”

“Mm,” Su Chunfeng nodded.

From Dongwangzhuang to Hetang Village, one usually passed through Gubao Village, where Yao Xinbo lived. In the minds of middle schoolers in their teens, this was like having an absolute geographical advantage—no matter how tough you are, if you make an enemy and pass through their village, you’ll be waiting to get stopped and beaten up by a bunch of older kids.

Su Chunfeng certainly remembered this and felt somewhat troubled.

Even though he possessed extraordinary Esoteric Techniques, he couldn’t always use mysterious Art Casting to solve every problem, especially over trivial matters. It wasn’t worth making a big fuss.

First, Art Casting always caused Backlash, and the more he used it, the stronger the accumulated Backlash became.

Second, his current physical condition was simply not suitable for using more powerful Esoteric Techniques to do something once and for all, unless he wanted to kill someone… But killing someone? Better not. In his current state, using Esoteric Techniques too forcefully would be unbearable, and he couldn’t handle the dangerous Backlash. Moreover, killing a teenage brat over a tiny conflict? Su Chunfeng didn’t think he was that ruthlessly decisive and inhuman.

Also, if he used Art Casting too much and someone observant noticed, it would be too troublesome.

But being reborn in middle school, living daily with a bunch of kids in the throes of puberty, with high hormones, weak emotional control, and who were young, impulsive, and loved to fight… You might not cause trouble, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t stir things up.

And simply being cowardly and yielding? With Su Chunfeng’s current temperament, he simply couldn’t do that.

This was really worrying.

“Forget it, kids don’t know any better. No need to bother with them. Taking a longer way home isn’t a big deal; consider it exercise.” Having thought this, Su Chunfeng suddenly remembered a very important issue: “I really need to exercise this weak little body properly, so I don’t have to rely on Art Casting to solve many things in the future.”

Not far away, by the edge of the playground, Tian Pingping saw Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao walking past, chatting and laughing. Her heart was full of confusion and hatred. Gritting her teeth, she turned and walked toward the homeroom teacher’s office.

That morning, Su Chunfeng had terrified Yao Xinbo into kneeling on the ground, crying and making a complete fool of himself in front of the class. Tian Pingping had been extremely shocked and stunned at the time and had immediately scolded Su Chunfeng. She never expected that this usually weak and useless guy would dare to say in front of the whole class that she and her cousin were boring, and then act like he couldn’t be bothered with them. This left Tian Pingping with a stifled anger she couldn’t vent.

After geometry class, Tian Pingping ran to the homeroom teacher to complain about Su Chunfeng: “Scaring classmates, leaving the classroom without permission during class, disrespecting the teacher…”

She thought that after her complaint, the homeroom teacher would surely criticize Su Chunfeng harshly in front of everyone in the afternoon, at least making him stand outside for the afternoon. Unexpectedly, Su Chunfeng not only wasn’t punished, he didn’t even get criticized. He came to class unharmed and attended classes all afternoon.

Homeroom Teacher Li Jichun hadn’t made any comment about it at all!

So now, Tian Pingping, extremely unwilling, went to the homeroom teacher again to complain, thinking the teacher had forgotten.

Instead, Homeroom Teacher Li Jichun scolded her: “Nonsense! What scaring classmates, forcing a classmate to kneel? Is fooling the teacher fun? I’ve investigated the matter. What you’re doing is the villain complaining first, the thief crying ‘stop thief’! I know you and Yao Xinbo are cousins. But as the vice class monitor and English class representative, you should follow discipline, respect classmates, and earn everyone’s trust! Not encourage Yao Xinbo’s bad habit of bullying classmates for no reason. As for Su Chunfeng leaving class without permission, Teacher Guo Fa and I already know the reason. You don’t need to remind us again and again. Moreover, Su Chunfeng apologized to the teacher and admitted his mistake very conscientiously after returning to school! In this regard, both you and Yao Xinbo should learn from Su Chunfeng!”

Tian Pingping was furious!

The one who complained got scolded instead, and the homeroom teacher’s angry expression made Tian Pingping worry: How many more days could she keep her positions as vice class monitor and English class representative?

…

In the evening, Su Chunfeng and his classmates carried their meal bowls to the cafeteria to line up. He used two liang of coarse grain tickets to get half a bowl of cornmeal porridge, then returned to the dormitory. Squatting by the kang, he carefully broke the hard, dry steamed bun he had brought into small pieces and mixed it into the porridge. With pickles and chili sauce, he enjoyed his first dinner since being reborn.

After eating, he took his bowl and ran to the hand-pump well outside the cafeteria entrance. With some classmates helping each other, he pumped water, washed his bowl and chopsticks, and took them back to the dormitory.

The sky had already darkened.

Su Chunfeng didn’t stay in the dormitory to chat and joke with his classmates. Feeling quite nostalgic, he took a stroll around the playground and campus, then went to the classroom.

Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School had evening self-study, morning exercises, and morning self-study sessions.

However, these sessions were for boarding students, as well as students from Dongwangzhuang Village itself and Tunbingying Village, which was just across the road to the north and south of Dongwangzhuang Village. Day students from other villages who didn’t board at school did not have to attend the morning and evening self-study or morning exercises. So during morning and evening self-study, the class wouldn’t be full, usually around thirty people.

The six fluorescent light tubes in the classroom were already lit.

But in such a large classroom, the light from six tubes really couldn’t make it as bright as day. Instead, the dim light filled the classroom with a peaceful atmosphere.

Sitting at his desk, looking out at the campus completely enveloped by night, Su Chunfeng looked forward to Wang Haifei’s arrival.

Wang Haifei was from Dongwangzhuang Village, so she had to come for evening self-study. Zhang Lifei was from Nandou Village, about three or four li from the school. She was a day student, not a boarder, so naturally she didn’t need to attend evening self-study.

Su Chunfeng remembered from his previous life that every evening self-study, it was just him and Wang Haifei studying together in the classroom, which was much quieter than during the day. Occasionally, they would write notes to each other… just like how many young people years later preferred chatting passionately on QQ or texting when dating—because face-to-face, many words were hard to say out loud. Using words was smoother and carried a bit of enticing mystery.

That feeling was really nice.

When Wang Haifei came to the class, it was almost time for the session to start. Head lowered and face red, she walked quickly to her desk, found the textbooks she needed to review for the evening from under the desk, then pretended as if nothing had happened. Smiling, she sat down next to Chen Yan’s desk, clearly intentionally avoiding Su Chunfeng.

Apart from feeling a little sorry about this, Su Chunfeng didn’t mind too much.

He knew that in this era, at this age, facing sudden romantic confession, the gentle, shy Wang Haifei definitely couldn’t accept it and would be flustered in a short time. She would also express, through actions, a reluctant but necessary attitude of resistance.

But this situation wouldn’t last long, at most no more than three days.